7/29課堂筆記: The Power to Choose

Final statements:
I'm a six on the scale. I'm easily affected by others, like my mom, my father or my sister. I think I have some choice by myself, but I'm not so confident about my decision, I will seek help, ask my mom, my sister, and what they say will affect my choice. So I think it depends on the people, and their character. Just like we talked about accurate and complete information needed to make a decsion. I think if we have more choices, we won't be so eager to seek power. It's true, but not universal.

I want to talk about my own experience. If you have choice out of your own free will, you'll feel powerful. If you think you have no choice but to follow what other people tell you, you feel powerless. this is my own experience. This also means you don't want to take your own responsiblity--you always have someone to blame, when the situation goes bad. I think choices always come together with responsiblity. People who want to have choices need to be willing to take responsibility, because you can only accept the consequences, no matter what, whether or not it's good or bad.
to read sthg out loud = to speak the text in a normal voice

1. example of someone having power over someone?
teacher and student
parents and kids
boss and employee
teachers can tell kids to do what the teacher wants
boss has the power to fire employees
parents always demand that kids get good grades or listen to them, obey their rules

2. example of someone being coerced?
coerce = force/threaten
"If you don't give me one million dollars I'll kill you"
"if you can't complete this project, you'll be fired . / I'll fail you."
If you don't keep this quiet, I'll make it seem like you're cheating on your husband.

3. Can you think of an example of someone having to make a certain decision because they were in a bad position?
mother crosses highway with three children because there's no crosswalk
have to study natural science and not history because afraid to go against father
because we were young, we cannot make our own decision, don't have the power

4. What’s an example of someone making a choice of their own free will.
deciding to move to Taiwan
choosing what flavor of ice cream
choosing what subject to major in by yourself

5. What do you feel is under your control in your personal or work life?
which restaurant to go to
what clothes to wear
how much to spend
what books to read

6. What do you feel you can’t control about your personal or work life?
what my parents think or expect
what other people think
accidents
my salary
how much work I have to do
how many days I can take off work

7. Do you have power over other people in your work life
sort of
i have power over the kids, as a teacher
I always tell my lab partners what to eat. I'm a senior, they have to respect me.

8. Do you have power over other people in your personal life?
not very much

9. Do you feel very free to make decisions in your work life? Your personal life?
No!
I'm not sure.

10. How do you feel when you can tell somebody what to do and they have to listen to you?
powerful
not really good
i sort of enjoy it
I agree
I also feel good
it's a complicated feeling

12. How do you feel when somebody tells you what to do?
it depends on who and how they tell me
if it's my boss, I don't have much choice, so I just deal with it
if someone orders me, but we are on the same level, I won't feel comfortable, I'll be like, "who do you think you are!"
if they yell at me, it is not okay. It's uncomfortable for me, scared, sad, upset.

13. What’s your emotional reaction when you read this last paragraph from the article?
if it's true, it's a very good tool for managers to utilize. it's positive and useful
is it a strategy to change the focus?
I felt it's manipulative. I felt suspicious.

15.
the parent is only giving them choices that the parent wants
the parent offers the choices, it's not the kids figuring out their choices.
it's manipulative, too!

16. Do you want power over other people?
NO.
No!
I'm not sure. I can't say no, but I can't say yes.
is it good to want power over people? I can't answer that, so I can't answer this question.

17. Does the insight presented in this study change your perception in any way?
18. So, do you agree with the study’s conclusion (below)?
I doubt it's true. I don't know that if I don't have choice that I would strive for power.
You don't want power over people.
But I have power over myself.
You have power over yourself, which means you have choices.

if people were not satisfied with what they had, if they had choices....it seems true in some examples, that if they had choice, they would focus on the choice

thinking about someone in a position of power, can they accept not having choices?

when you have power over people in the real world, you generally also have choice.

suspect vs. doubt:
I suspect it may be true. I think it's true.
"I suspect he killed his friend."

I doubt something is true. I don't think it's true.
"I doubt his friend wanted to be killed."

19. Do you think there is any relationship between how much choice we have as consumers, and how little influence we have over the decisions our democratic governments make?

What are the elements needed to make an informed and beneficial decision?Information must be:(source)
accurate and complete;
in a format each person can understand;
readily available when a person wants to make decisions.

before a referendum, (like: should taiwan declare independence?), we don't have this kind of information, but we need it, to find out if that's the right decision.